It is easy to understand why well-meaning Christians want to find harmony with the teachings of the Bible and evolution. Thanks to the heavy evolutionist propaganda we have today, a lot of people have the mentality that evolution is a solid fact. So solid of a fact, in fact, that to deny evolution would be like denying the earth is round. Because of this mentality, many Christians feel that they must force to make the Bible fit with evolution.

Unfortunately, the match doesn’t fit very well; and usually, it is the Bible that takes the hit. The Bible teaches us that before Adam sinned, there was no death in the world (Romans 5:12). However, according to the evolutionist worldview, there were millions of years of death, suffering, disease, famines, etc. before man even appeared on earth.

Evolution teaches things in reverse to the Bible.

According to evolutionists, the earth was a very hot molten mass when it was formed. This clearly goes against what the Bible teaches, which in stark contrast states that there was water on the surface of the earth on the very first day of creation (Gen. 1:2). Evolutionists also believe the sun was formed before the earth; the Bible teaches the sun wasn’t created until the fourth day (Gen. 1:14-16). In addition to this, evolutionists believe dinosaurs, or other types of reptiles, evolved into birds. The Bible teaches birds were created before reptiles (Gen. 1:20-25).

What of the long ages?

The evolutionist’s theory looks silly without eons of time to hide behind. This is one of the reasons evolutionists heavily push the belief that the earth is billions of years old. To the evolutionists' credit, they have done a marvelous job in convincing the public to believe their beliefs. Namely, that the world is billions of years old. Christians don’t want to look ignorant, but then again, they don’t want to abandon the Bible either; hence the reason a lot of them attempt to squeeze long periods of time into the Bible.

A Gap between Gen. 1:1 and 1:2.

Some Christians have attempted to put long ages into the Bible by creating a ‘gap’ between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. This is commonly called ‘The Gap Theory’. Adherents of the Gap Theory have tried to justify putting long ages between these two verses by claiming God created His first creation, but in between the time of Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, Satan fell from Heaven and ruined that creation. Gap theorists believe this is why v. 2 states that the earth was without form and void and there was darkness.

Gap theorists also believe all the fossils we find of past life, such as dinosaurs, were apart of God’s original creation, but perished when Satan fell (before verse 2).

While I can’t blame the Gap theorist's efforts, this teaching is not supported by the Bible.

So what of the Gap theorist’s arguments? Genesis 1:2 states that the earth was without form and void because God wasn’t finished creating. It would be like watching someone building a house and claiming the house must have been destroyed previously because all you see are pieces of wood. This, of course, would be false. The builder just isn’t finished yet.

Another verse that is used in attempting to salvage the Gap Theory is Gen 1:28, where God told Adam and Eve to “replenish” the earth. They point out that this must mean the earth was once populated and was now going to be re-filled. There is a difference, however, between "replenish" and “re-fill”. The word replenish actually has two different meanings. Usually in the English language, when you put “re” in front of a verb, it means to repeat an action. This isn’t the case with the word "replenish," however. There is no such word as “plenish”. Replenish actually means both to fill and to fill again. So there is no contradiction here with a straightforward reading of the Bible.

In any case, even if there was a previous creation, the fossil evidence for it would be destroyed as a result of the Noachian flood.

The Gap Theory simply has no place in the Bible and is without any type of support.

Progressive creationist’s longer days.

Probably the most common attempt at putting long ages into the Bible is by claiming the days of Genesis weren’t literal 24-hour days. While this is another tempting solution to reconciling evolution (long ages) and the Bible, it is just as unbiblical as the Gap Theory.

Jesus himself said, “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female” (Mark 10:6). This would cause a huge problem if the days of Genesis were long periods of time. The Bible teaches that God created the universe and the earth about 6,000 years ago, and that he created man on the sixth day of creation. For all practical purposes, the 6th day of creation in a 6,000 year period is pretty insignificant. On the evolutionist’s timeline, though, man would look like he appeared much later than the beginning, since evolutionists believe humans have been around for only a few million years, while the universe is some 14 billion years old.

Claiming the days of Genesis are long periods of time is clearly going against what Jesus taught. Also, one must consider that the Bible teaches plants were created on the third day of the creation (Gen. 1:9-13), while the sun wasn’t created until the fourth day (Gen. 1:16-19). This is clear evidence that the days of creation couldn’t have been long periods of time, as plants could not survive very long without the sun.

Like proponents of the Gap Theory, Progressive Creationists run into the problem of having to accept that there were millions of years worth of death before Adam sinned, which goes against the Bible (Rom. 5:12).

It’s always disappointing to see well-meaning Christians accept the teachings of evolutionary ideas (in this case, fitting millions of years into the Bible) and compromise the teachings of the Bible. The Bible is divine revelation from God, and is accurate in all areas it touches upon, including how long the days of Genesis were. It really comes down to a simple question: are you going to believe what the Bible has to say about the history of the world, or man’s fallible ideas?

With that, I leave you with this thought:

"If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?" – Jesus (John 3:12)